Yakov Grigrorievich Punkin (russian: Яков Григорьевич Пункин; 8 December 1921 – 12 October 1994) was a

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, this ...

Greco-Roman wrestler Greco-Roman (American English), Graeco-Roman (British English), classic wrestling ( Euro English) or French wrestling (in Russia until 1948) is a style of wrestling that is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first mo ...

from

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. Competing for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

he won a gold medal at the 1952 Olympics. He placed fifth at the 1953 World Championships. He became the first Olympic gold champion born on the territory of the modern Ukraine.

Biography

Punkin was Jewish. He took up wrestling in 1938, while working at a factory as a turner. At the onset of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1941 he joined the Soviet Army, but was soon captured by the Germans and spent the rest of the war in German prisoner-of-war camps: until summer 1942 in

Emsland Landkreis Emsland () is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany named after the river Ems. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Leer, Cloppenburg and Osnabrück, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (district of Steinfur ...

, in 1942–1945 in

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

, and later in 1945 near

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

. Throughout those year Punkin posed as a

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Ossetian man, hiding his Jewish origin, else he would be shot much earlier than many of his cellmates. When he was liberated by Soviet troops in 1945 he weighed only 36 kg. Between 1945 and 1948 Punkin served with the Soviet Army, where he continued wrestling and won the 1947 Army championships. He then won four Soviet titles, in 1949–50 and in 1954–55. After retiring from competitions he worked as a wrestling coach in his native city of Zaporizhzhia. Punkin had a son, Grigory, who lives in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. A wrestling tournament is held annually in his honor in Zaporizhia.

References

1921 births 1994 deaths Jewish Ukrainian sportspeople Soviet Jews Jewish wrestlers Ukrainian male sport wrestlers Soviet military personnel of World War II from Ukraine Soviet prisoners of war World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Olympic wrestlers of the Soviet Union Wrestlers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Soviet male sport wrestlers Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in wrestling Sportspeople from Zaporizhzhia People from Zaporizhia Governorate Avanhard (sports society) sportspeople Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Soviet Jews in the military Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR {{Ukraine-wrestling-bio-stub